Troacctid

What about the poison? You just let them poison you? The prayer book can cure poison at the cost of prayer points.

^ Missing the point.

But make sure you have access to a competent team, because if you don't, it'll slow you down a lot.

Very easy to kill, just melee with standard melee gear and bunyip, dodge the special attack when they use it, and bring super antipoisons. You can range too if you like, they're not particularly weak against any one style.

Doesn't change the fact they're a terrible moneymaker. And sharks are still a weak moneymaker even at 1k each. Those figures you're mentioning are all based on testing from high levels, aren't they? At least 70 range for aviansies, 70s in melee for dragons, 83 slayer for spirit mages. Try killing blue dragons with straight 40s in combat stats. In comparison, farming ranarrs only takes level 32, and that's a good 1m+ gp/hr. For herblore, making unfinished can turn more than 1m gp/hr profit. To clarify a bit, I don't want anyone to think I'm arguing that noncombat skills are better moneymakers than combat or something like that. That up there is just nitpicking on a few particular examples. Point is, nothing has really changed here regarding the balance of combat and noncombat. Combat has always been central to the game, being a core premise of the genre and all. Combat levels have been displayed above characters since RSC, maybe even since DeviousMUD. Storm talks about players being "steered away" from noncombat skills, but this implies that they were being "steered" more towards them at some point in the past, which just isn't true. It's like people who complain that Christmas is just a commercial holiday nowadays. Well, yeah, it is, but that sort of tone implies that there was some point in the past where it wasn't. It isn't as if noncombat skills are being ignored. We've gotten all sorts of updates that aren't just about killing things. Shattered Heart is a prime example. Plus dragon pickaxes, the impling update, those updates to agility, and so on. And those are just the updates geared specifically toward them--you can see consideration of noncombat skills popping up all over the place. Check out the rewards at Fist of Guthix or Stealing Creation. Notice how court summons can be gained from pickpocketing. Etc.

Doesn't change the fact they're a terrible moneymaker. And sharks are still a weak moneymaker even at 1k each. Those figures you're mentioning are all based on testing from high levels, aren't they? At least 70 range for aviansies, 70s in melee for dragons, 83 slayer for spirit mages. Try killing blue dragons with straight 40s in combat stats. In comparison, farming ranarrs only takes level 32, and that's a good 1m+ gp/hr. For herblore, making unfinished can turn more than 1m gp/hr profit.

Yew logs are as high now as they've ever been and they're still only ~110k gp/hr in the best of circumstances. If that was ever a good moneymaker, the alternatives must have been pretty crappy. Woodcutting is terrible for money and has been for as long as I can remember. Same with fishing. Anyway, what I mean is that "A is a faster moneymaker than B" does not imply "The focus of the game is shifting away from B." Skills are still important. In fact, I would argue skills are now more important than ever with the introduction of dungeoneering to make use of previously-useless skills like smithing, as well as updates like the high-level herblore potions. Oh, and these combat moneymakers that are so thoroughly trouncing noncombat skills are (with the exception of the frost dragons, which are more of a "dungeoneering" moneymaker anyway) bosses, which should not be equated with "combat" in general. Ordinary combat moneymakers like dragons are still roughly on par with or slower than noncombat skills like hunter, mining, herblore, or runecrafting.

Of course noncombat skills look pathetic if you consider fishing and woodcutting to be your representation of a noncombat moneymaker. They're terrible profit. When have they ever been good? I really don't see any problem with the current paradigm. Moneymaking isn't automatically faster or slower just because you do or don't kill things. It's supply and demand. Anyway, I didn't see any mention of the combat moneymakers that aren't super-fast, like killing chickens or hobgoblins or cockatrices. One moneymaker being faster than another moneymaker is not a problem. Edit: On the other article, meh...it's not that it's poorly-written or anything, but it seems like at least half of all editorials about Runescape are pseudo-rants on how nobody plays for fun anymore. As far as those articles go, it's one of the better ones because the author has chosen to focus mainly on people looking for rewards from TET events, which is absolutely a valid context. I generally resent people preaching about "Guys this is a GAME it's supposed to be FUN," because I see it as stating the obvious...equivalent in my eyes to "Guys, this is an ONLINE game you need INTERNET to play it," or "Guys, swords are WEAPONS, they're made for FIGHTING." Just a pointless thing to say. But even I would facepalm at somebody who goes to a TET event asking for rewards.

Just the one.

You should train your agility anyway, it's a useful skill. 76 agility won't do anything special at sharks, though. It'll be pretty rare. Like, maybe once an inventory or so at best? For best results, you need the full 99 agility. The higher the better. Oh, and I should add the obligatory sharks are terrible profit, never worth fishing, waste of time, roughly equivalent to picking flax with level 1 everything, cavefish are just as relaxed but better money and xp, y'know, that sort of stuff. Or are you just going for a trophy shark?

1. You should be using a combat familiar whenever possible. 2. What BA clans? I haven't found any that'll let you in without level 5 in everything and/or full penance. If you're in a BA clan, you probably already have a torso. And if you don't, then you're better off spending your points on levelling up or filling your horn. 3. Degrading is nothing. 5 minutes of farming pays for like 60+ hours of Barrows. Should not be an issue.

Until you get to 70 farming, after which poison ivies are pretty decent. The monastery patch is also super easy to get to with the ardy cape (any level) For now, I'd hold off on buying bulk seeds. The recent seed change update threw everything into a flurry of confusingness, but it looks like things are starting to stabalize again. Champion's Guild is just as fast to get to with a combat brace. Rimmington too once you've Love Story (or if you move your house there I guess). Rule of thumb, yews are about the same gp/xp as palm trees. If you're willing to plant one, you should be willing to plant the other. (I mean, obviously you can't plant palm trees at 60 farming, but you know what I mean, right?) Considering you're not planting papayas, which are both faster and cheaper for xp than maples, I'm guessing you're more of a willow-type farmer.

Living rocks are pretty good. Strong drops (stackable too), low defense (weak to crush too, since you're using SS), high HP. And they give more xp per damage than ordinary monsters. Plus you sometimes get lucky and get the chance to kill a Patriarch, which is a nice bonus 200k.

Considering the opportunity cost of those hours, the inability to sell the torso later, the frustration of dealing with the disgustingly terrible n00b teams in W6, the opportunity cost of those hours again, the relative crappiness of the torso compared to the chestplate (no prayer, much lower defense) or barrows (MUCH lower defense), and the fact that Verac's Skirt is better than Tassets anyway most of the time...it's really not worth it.

This is only true if you have a fighter torso. If you don't have a fighter torso, then the chestplate is significantly better than the tassets. And you shouldn't get a fighter torso unless you already have one, in which case you probably don't need a second one anyway. They're generally a waste of BA points.

Hunter (implings, grenwalls) and farming (herbs) are the best. Runecrafting is okay too. Stay away from woodcutting and fishing, they're a trap--horrible money, way too slow.

Would it help if I pointed out that the Unholy Cursebearer can drop them?

No. Sorry.

Yes, get 79 summoning. Titans are significantly better than locusts. Most of the combat familiars you get as you level up will be better than locusts as well.

When was Draynor ever a good spot for mining? :huh:

It can't slash.

"As fast as possible" probably means "with a cannon." Failing that, darts/knives are generally faster xp than arrows or bolts. And make sure you've done all the quests that give ranged xp, plus Dream Mentor, Glorious Memories, and Shadow of the Storm for their combat-specific xp lamps.

Do quests. They're the best way to develop your character. When in doubt, quest! And since you asked, you're obviously in doubt, so...quest! Also, farm herbs for money. There's a good guide in the Archive of Wisdom if you need it.

Hey! You don't have to be stupid to follow Bandos. But it helps.

I appreciate that clues are more exciting now. I'll probably try a couple of them for kicks and to try out the new puzzles (which I think I like much better than anagrams, emotes, or coordinates), but I doubt I'll make a habit of it. I can already make better profit hunting implings; it still has the potential of lots of profit from a rare drop, but it's much more reliable and I get hunter xp.